A great many things have occurred on Angel
Island since Lieutenant Juan Manuel Ayala anchored the Spanish
packet-boat San Carlos at the island in 1775, while compiling
the first chart of San Francisco Bay. Over the years the island
has been a Mexican land grant, a military base, home to a quarantine
station and an immigration station, and, finally, a state park.
However, it is the military that has had the longest-playing
role in the islands history. The Army first set up camp
on Angel Island during the Civil War, and remained on the island
for almost 100 years. The island, the largest in San Francisco
Bay, has been part of the defenses of the bay on three separate
occasions.

The military history of Angel Island began
in 1850, shortly after the Mexican War, when President Fillmore
declared the island a military preserve. When California entered
the Union, in 1848 San Francisco bay was virtually defenseless.
El Castillo de San Joaquin, the little Spanish fort at the entrance
to San Francisco Bay, was a ruin, the result of poor construction,
rain, earthquakes, and neglect. It was the only defensive works,
with the exception of a crude single-gun battery on Black Point
(Fort Mason), erected by either the Spanish or the Mexican authorities
during their tenures. San Franciscos lack of defense was
of concern to the American authorities, and an 1850 commission
prepared a comprehensive plan for the defense of the bay. As a
result of that plan, artillery batteries were installed on Alcatraz,
and construction began on what would become Fort Point, on the
site of the old Castillo de San Joaquin.

Angel Island was to be part of the second
line of defense in the original planning, but for years
the island continued to lead a pastoral existence, home only to
a number of squatters who eked out a living by fishing and farming.
In 1858 the Army Engineers sent two officers to the island to
conduct surveys, but when they finished their work disappeared
into the files, and no other action was taken. In 1861 the Civil
War gave impetus to the work on the defenses for the bay; Alcatraz
had become a major fortress that eventually would mount more than
100 guns, and Fort Point was strengthened with additional guns
and men, but Angel Island and the second line of defense
existed only on paper.
Public concern over the inadequacy of San Francisco Bay defenses
continued to mount, however. Finally, in 1863, orders to place
guns on the island came from Washington. On August 24th Captain
R. S. Williamson of the Army Engineers was sent to the island,
where he made another survey, and recommended that artillery batteries
be placed on the island at Points Stuart, Knox and Blunt. These
were to be temporary batteries, with wooden gun mounts and earthen
emplacements. The initial military purpose served by Angel Island
was as an artillery post, part of the defenses of San Francisco
Bay.

Captain Williamsons report was endorsed
by the Department of the Pacific. Construction of the new batteries
began in September, 1863, under the supervision of Colonel Rene
De Russey, United States Army Engineers. That same month the Department
of the Pacific ordered Company B, Third Artillery, to go into
camp on Angel Island. On September 21, fifty-six men of Company
B, under the command of Second Lieutenant John L. Tiernon, left
Fort Point, and arrived on Angel Island the same day.

One of the first acts of the acting company
commander was to name the new post Camp Reynolds,
in honor of Major-General John Reynolds, commander of First Corps,
Army of the Potomac, who had been killed by a sniper at the Battle
of Gettysburg the previous July. General Reynolds had been a popular
and much admired officer, considered by some to be the best officer
in the Army of the Potomac. Lieutenant Tiernon then looked for
a site on which to build quarters. He selected a long sloping
hill that ran down towards a cove on the west side of the island;
it had the advantage of being between the new batteries at Point
Knox and Point Stuart.

While Colonel De Russey and the engineers
worked to construct the artillery batteries, with some assistance
from the men of the Third Artillery, a civilian contractor, began
work on the Camp Reynolds garrison buildings. Progress was slow;
the evidence suggests that most of the command did not get into
quarters before winterthey spent the winter in tents. Two
officers quarters were completed in 1863, together with
some service buildings, but the balance of the original Camp Reynolds
buildings, including two sets of barracks for enlisted men, were
not completed until 1864. In that same year, the posts first
hospital (there would be three over the years) was built some
distance to the north, in a cove that had been known as Racoon
Bay or Glenn Cove. After the erection of the hospital and the
surgeons and stewards quarters, the cove became known
as Hospital Cove, and is known today as Ayala Cove.

While the post was being constructed the
Army Engineers were at work on the artillery batteries. Roads
to the batteries on Point Knox and Point Stuart were completed
by June of 1864. Construction on the Point Stuart battery began
in November, 1863, and the batterys armament, a ten-inch
Columbiad (howitzer) and three thirty-two pounders, was mounted
by August of 1864. One month later Point Knox was ready for service,
armed with seven thirty-two pounders, an eight-inch Rodman, and
two ten-inch Rodmans. The emplacements were earthen, and the guns
were mounted on wooden carriages coated with coal tar for protection
against the elements.

The construction on the batteries on Point
Stuart and Point Knox went forward on schedule, but the work on
the battery at Point Blunt did not. The great difficulty in traversing
the distance between Point Blunt and Camp Reynolds made it necessary
to place the battery under the command of Alcatraz, and man the
battery with men from that post, who could more easily reach the
point by water. A barracks and officers quarters had to be erected
for their use. Excavations for the emplacement were completed
by April of 1864, but there was a delay, and heavy rains damaged
the parapet. The work was delayed until March of 1865, when the
barge carrying the guns to the battery swamped on the beach. The
final disaster occurred in May of 1865; the parapet dropped five
feet and slid forward; the battery was abandoned, and the guns
were removed in 1866. The barracks and officers quarters
on the point became a sub-post of Camp Reynolds.

In July of 1864 General Irvin McDowell,
Commanding Officer of the Department of the Pacific, made an inspection
tour of Angel Island. Accompanying the Army officers and dignitaries
on the tour was a young reporter who later would become famous
as Mark Twain, but at the time, proud of being a reporter,
called himself Clemens, of the Call. Clemens said
the fortifications on Angel Island were fast growing into
formidable proportions. That same month the Commanding Officer
of Camp Reynolds reported that thirteen guns were mounted and
there were 7,400 pounds of powder, and 2,600 rounds of shot and
shell on hand.

When the Civil War ended, and the defense
of San Francisco Bay no longer a paramount need, Camp Reynolds
became a Recruit Depot, responsible for handling recruits on their
way to posts in the west. A second change occurred in 1871, when
Peninsula Island was placed under the control of the commanding
officer of Camp Reynolds. (It was pointed out that the name was
ludicrousit was either an island or a peninsula, it couldnt
be both.) This property was what we know today as Belvedere, and
it was made a military reserve by presidential order in 1867,
as it was considered important for the defense of the approaches
to the Benicia Arsenal and the Mare Island Naval Yard. No military
structures were erected on the new reserve; patrols from Angel
Island serving to protect the property from trespassers. In 1885
a legal opinion voided the governments rights to the military
reserve, and the commander of Camp Reynolds once more controlled
just one island, not two,

During the last part of the Nineteenth Century
the men stationed at Camp Reynolds were involved in what has become
loosely known as the Indian Wars. The Army of the
time was not large, and small units were scattered across the
western United States. Troops were sent up and down the coast
by steamer, and at one time or another regiments with headquarters
on the island had men posted from Sitka, Alaska, to the Mexican
Border. The 12th Infantry, at one time officially stationed
on Angel Island, actually had troops at eleven different posts
in three states or territories. The Ninth Infantry, with Headquarters
at Camp Reynolds in 1869, had Company D, regimental headquarters,
and the regimental band on Angel Island. The balance of the regiment
was stationed at nine other locations, seven of them in California
and two in Nevada. Units came and went, and the population on
the island varied from 100 to 700, as soldiers from Camp Reynolds
fought and scouted, provided guards and escorts, and patrolled
the western United States. In 1873 Companies E and G of the 12th
Infantry were sent north to fight in the Modoc War, both companies
suffering numerous casualties in the conflict. In addition to
providing troops for western outposts, Camp Reynolds continued
its functions as a Recruit Depot, receiving soldiers new to the
Army.

During this period Camp Reynolds had a number
of commanding officers who had distinguished themselves in the
Civil War. Two of them, William R Shafter and Orlando Bolivar
Willcox had been awarded Medals of Honor during the war, and others,
including John C. Tidball, August Kautz, William Henry French
and John Haskell King, had outstanding war records. All of these
officers had been awarded the brevet rank of brigadier-general
or higher.

One of the enduring myths about Angel Island
is that the island served as an Indian prison during
the Indian Wars. At the time the Army did consider using a garrisoned
island as a place to house such prisoners, who had become
quite numerous at interior posts, but the idea does
not appear to have ever become policy. In 1869 there were two
Indian prisoners on the island, who were furnished with tents,
clothing and rations, and had the freedom of the island. The 1870
census lists sixteen Indians on the island, aged from 15 to 46.
This appears to have been the largest number of Indians ever held
on Angel Island, hardly enough to make it a prison camp. It appears
that these Indians were not captured in battle. They were listed
as Indian convicts, and seem to have been troublemakers
and petty criminals from the reservations.

New buildings were added to the post over the years;
a new hospital was built in 1869, closer to the post proper, a
chapel in 1876, three more barracks, and additional officers
quarters. The population was obviously overwhelmingly made up
of soldiers and officers, but there were always a number of women,
quite a few children, and a number of civilians. In 1880, for
instance, there were 19 Chinese shrimp fishermen on the island,
eight of them married. Twenty-four Army wives were on the island,
in addition to six female servants and a hospital matron. There
were seven male servants, two of them employed by the Commanding
Officer, Colonel Kautz, a veteran of the Civil War, who also employed
two of the female servants; in effect the colonel had one servant
for each member of his family. The civilians included the manager
of the Angel Island quarry, the post sutler (storekeeper), and
a dairyman, whose herd of cows kept the post supplied with milk,
butter and cream. The island always had one or more herds of cows,
and flocks of chickens; being somewhat removed from the mainland,
a certain amount of self-sufficiency was required.

Army life in the last half of the Nineteenth
Century was harsh, with rigid class distinctions. Pay was low,
as was morale. Following the Civil War desertions were a constant
problem. The 8th Cavalry, which had some of its men on Angel
Island, had a desertion rate of almost 42% in 1871. The situation
was so acute that at one point a reward was offered to anyone
in San Francisco who assisted in the apprehension of a deserter.
The 9th Infantry paid $1800 in such rewards in 1868, and recovered
105 of the 212 men who had deserted. As a corollary to desertions,
there was a pervasive and serious drinking problem. Because of
it the post sutler was forbidden to keep any description
of wine, bitters, cordials, fruits preserved in liquor, or liquor
in any form. The post hospital kept all compounds containing
alcohol under lock and key. There was widespread smuggling of
vile compounds, mostly low-grade whiskey, from the
mainland to the island. It is revealing that the construction
of the first road to circle the island was cited as being especially
necessary to patrol the island, to prevent the landing . . . of
small boats for whisky and deserters. At least one of the
reasons for low morale and excessive drinking at Camp Reynolds
was the monotony, which one observer called deadly.
Isolated from the mainland, operating on an unvarying military
schedule, life on the island had a stultifying regularity. A resident
of Camp Reynolds said, The most exciting event of the day
is the arrival of the steamer.

In 1891 a Quarantine Station was built in
Hospital Cove, the site of the original Camp Reynolds hospital,
and the Army was forced to share the island for the first time.
The new station was operated by the Marine Hospital Service. It
was not welcomed by the Army; Camp Reynolds had had the island
to itself for twenty-eight years, and felt no need of a neighbor.
The station was built over Army protests.

In what seemed to be a repetition of the
1860s, the defenses of San Francisco Bay again became a matter
of public concern in the 1880s. The Civil War batteries were either
deteriorated, or obsoletethere had been no appropriation
for harbor defenses in some yearsand public outcries eventually
brought action from the government. New batteries (known as Endicott
Batteries, after the board that proposed them) were proposed
for San Francisco Bay. The first such battery for the bay was
built at Fort Point.

The first activity on Angel Island, in this
new effort to arm San Francisco Bay, was the construction of a
torpedo, or mine casemate at Mortar Hill, on the south
side of the island in 1891. This casemate served as a control
point for mines placed beneath the surface of the bay. At the
time it was one of four such mine control points in the defense
system for the bay.

In April of 1898 work began on Angel Islands
first permanent Endicott Battery, Battery Drew, located just south
of Camp Reynolds and armed with a single eight-inch rifle on a
non-disappearing carriage. Construction on this new battery began
just three weeks before the start of the Spanish-American Warthe
war gave impetus to the construction, just as the Civil War had
for the original batteries. The second new battery was Battery
Ledyard, which was erected on the site of the old Point Knox Civil
War battery, and armed with two five-inch rapid-fire guns. The
third, and last, battery in the series was Battery Wallace, built
above and behind Ledyard, and armed with a single eight-inch rifle
on a disappearing carriage.

The war with Spain did not at first affect
Camp Reynolds, but as the war went on the activities at the post
steadily increased. Following Admiral Deweys success in
Manila Bay troops were needed in the Philippines to follow up
the naval success, and thousands of men left San Francisco for
Manila, many of them passing through Camp Reynolds. The activity
increased when the war ended, for it was promptly followed by
what became known as the Philippine Insurrection. This little-known
conflict would involve some 100,000 American troops before it
was over, and Camp Reynolds became an integral part of the troop
movements to the Philippines. Not only was the post shipping men
overseas, it was receiving men returning from the fighting. Among
them were men with tropical diseases, and in 1899 a Detention
Camp was erected on the east side of the island for their care.
As hostilities wound down thousands of men began returning for
discharges, and a Discharge Camp was erected in 1901, also on
the east side of Angel Island, adjoining the Detention Camp. By
1907 some 126,000 men had been discharged at the camp.

In 1900 the Army changed the name of the
post on Angel Island to Fort McDowell, after General Irvin McDowell,
who had died in San Francisco in 1885. General McDowell had been
commander of the Union armies at the First Battle of Bull Run,
and later became commander of the Department of the Pacific. The
reason for the name change is not known, but General McDowell,
while not recognized as an able leader in the field, was a good
administrator, and had been an immensely popular figure in San
Francisco. Reynolds, after all, was from Pennsylvania. With the
change, Camp Reynolds no longer officially existed, and the name
was no longer used.

In 1910 Fort McDowell began a major building
program on the east side of Angel Island, using military prisoners
from the Army Prison on Alcatraz as labor. Among the permanent
buildings constructed were officers quarters, a Main Mess Hall,
a Post Hospital, guard house, post exchange, barracks for enlisted
men and service buildings. The post headquarters moved to the
new garrison, which became the East Garrison of Fort McDowell;
the former Camp Reynolds became West Garrison. Just prior to the
construction of East Garrison, the Immigration Service built an
Immigration Station, the Ellis Island of the west,
at China Cove on the east side of Angel Island, just north of
East Garrison.

Fort McDowell was very active during World
War I, serving as a Recruit Depot for men entering the Army. Men
drafted in the western states were sent to Fort McDowell, and
held for about two weeks, during which time they would be given
physical examinations, issued uniforms, and given some rudimentary
military training. At the same time enlisted men returning from
Hawaii and the Philippines for discharge, furlough, retirement
or reassignment were being processed at the post. About 4,000
men a month passed through Fort McDowell during this period. Overcrowding
became the ruletemporary tent encampments were erected at
Point Blunt and on the old Camp Reynolds parade ground in an effort
to ease the crush. The war-driven overcrowding was such that the
newly completed Post hospital at East Garrison did not serve as
a hospital when completed, but became a temporary barracks instead.

Following World War I military activity
declined, and Fort McDowell went through a series of changes in
official designations, finally becoming the Overseas Discharge
and Replacement Depot in 1922. The distinctive unit insignia for
the San Francisco Overseas Discharge and Replacement Depot is
shown at the right. In this capacity it handled men leaving for,
and returning from overseas posts. In 1926 it was reported that
Fort McDowell was handling more men than any other Army Post in
the country. An average of 22,000 men were processed at Fort McDowell
each year between 1926 and 1938. During that same period 106,000
men were discharged at the post. After World War II began in Europe
in 1939 activity on the island began to slowly increase again.

Pearl Harbor and American entry into World
War II in 1941 gave Fort McDowell the impetus for its period of
greatest activity. During the war it served as part of the huge
San Francisco Port of Embarkation. The fort became a staging center
for casualsunassigned enlisted menbeing
sent as replacements to the Pacific Theater of War. Fort McDowell
processed and shipped some 300,000 men overseas during the war.
The number of men being processed reached such a point that the
Main Mess Hall, which could seat 1,410 men at a time, was forced
to have three seatings for each meal. The mess hall served more
than 12,000 meals a day. Despite the increase in volume, veterans
remember the food as being excellent.

The Immigration Service left Angel Island
in 1940, following a fire which destroyed the Immigration Station
Administration Building, and the site reverted to the Army. Following
the start of World War II a 1,600-man mess hall, barracks, a guard
house, a post exchange, an infirmary and a recreational building
were added to what had been the Angel Island Immigration Station,
and the site became the North Garrison of Fort McDowell. Part
of North Garrison functioned as a Prisoner of War Processing Center
for Japanese and German prisoners of war. The POWs were processed
there before being shipped to permanent prison camps in the interior
of the country. The first prisoner of war captured by American
forces in World War II, the commander of a Japanese midget submarine
at Pearl Harbor, was processed at North Garrison.

When the war with Japan ended, in August
of 1945, Fort McDowell was almost swamped by the number of servicemen
returning from overseas duty in the Pacific Theater. As the troop
transports brought soldiers home from the Pacific, they were processed
at Fort McDowell, ferried across the bay to Oakland or San Francisco,
loaded on trains and sent off to be discharged at their original
induction centers. During this hectic activity twenty-two troop
trains were loaded in one day; twenty in Oakland and two in San
Francisco. It was thought to be a record of its kind. Activity
began to wind down in 1946, and the Army decided to close Fort
McDowell. The Army left Angel Island in August of 1946, and the
island was classified as surplus property

Following the departure of the Army, a debate
began as to what the future of Angel Island would be. Finally,
in 1954, after a good deal of controversy, debate and travail,
36 acres of Ayala Cove, on the north end of the island became
a California State Park. However, that same year the Army returned
to Angel Island to build a Nike Anti-aircraft missile site at
Point Blunt, on the south end of the island. This sitemanned
by Battery D of the 9th Army Antiaircraft Artillery Regimentwas
one of eleven such sites built in the San Francisco Bay area during
the Cold War. The Angel Island battery had three launching sections,
each with four missile launchers, and was armed with liquid-fueled
Nike-Ajax missiles. An Integrated Fire Site, with three radars,
two control vans, and a ready room was constructed on Mount Ida,
the highest point on the island. About one hundred men manned
the missile battery; they were quartered in what had been the
Fort McDowell Post Hospital. The missiles were obsolete by 1962,
and the anti-aircraft battery left the island that year.

Additional acreage had been added to Angel
Island State Park in 1958, and the entire island was declared
a California State Park in 1963. Today the entire island is open
to the public, with regular ferry service from San Francisco and
Marin. Many of the historic buildings at Camp Reynolds and Fort
McDowell are still standing, and at Camp Reynolds a restored officers
quarters is open to the public. The Spanish-American War battery
sites still exist, although the guns have been removed.

Most facilities on the island are available
April-October. If you plan a visit, contact the Tiburon ferry
at angelislandferry.com
or at 415-435-2131. The San Francisco ferry can be reached at
415-773-1188. There are picnic facilities, and visitor centers
at Ayala Cove, the Immigration Station, and East Garrison. There
is a deli, and bicycle and kayak rentals. There are nine environmental
camp sites available on the islandfor information on camping
call the park ranger office at 415-435-5390.

The Angel Island Association provides docents
during the season at Camp Reynolds (West Garrison), Fort McDowell
(East Garrison) and the Immigration Station. Motorized tram tours
of the island are available for visitors, and docent-led tours
can be arranged through the Angel island Association. For complete
information on Angel Island go to www.angelisland.org,
or call the Angel Island Association at 415-435-3522.

After a century of public service, Angel
Island is now open for public enjoyment.

West Garrison (former
Camp Reynolds) circa 1926

Angel Island
Historical Time Line

compiled by Daniel Sebby, Military Historian,
California Military Department

Prior to Army use the Angel Island was the Mexican land grant
rancho of Don Antonio Maria Osio. During the period between the
first executive order making the island a military reservation
and actual occupation by the Army, it was used for ranching and
as a favorite spot for gentlemen from San Francisco to conduct
duels. The waters adjacent to the island were used for anchorages,
including prison ships that were anchored next to the island
prior to the establishment of San Quentin State Prison in 1853.

Angel Island was used as Military Reservation from 1863-1946.
Control over the island has varied considerably since the army
officially deactivated the post in 1946. The U.S. Army District
Engineer took control first, after the island was declared surplus.
In 1947, the WAA assumed responsibility for the disposal of the
island. In 1948, the Interior Department was given disposal responsibility
through the National Park Service. In 1950, the U.S. Navy was
given permission to utilize buildings in North Garrison as a
degaussing station. In 1953, The California Division of Beaches
and Parks took control of Hospital Cove. In 1954, the Secretary
of the Interior returned control of Angel Island to the Army
for the Nike air defense missile site. Finally, in 1963, the
state received full control of the island, with the exception
of Coast Guard Stations at Points Blunt, Stuart, and Knox, which
are owned and managed by the National Park Service (Department
of Parks and Recreation 1979).

Date

Evert

6 November
1850

President Millard
Fillmore issues an executive order declaring that Angel Island
(as well as other areas in San Francisco) is a military reservation.
This is largely ignored and the status quo is maintained for
several years.

20 April
1860

President James
Buchanan issues an executive order declaring that Angel Island
is again a Federal military reservation.

2 April
1863

The War Department
begins construction of fortifications on Angel Island

12 September
1863

Camp Reynolds
is established.

1 November
1863

Construction of
fortifications at Point Stuart and Point Blunt begins.

7 November
1863

Orders to construct
barracks at Camp Reynolds received.

25 July
1864

Batteries at Point
Stuart and Point Knox completed

20 September
1864

Battery at Point
Blunt completed. Quarters for 120 enlisted and three officers
as well as wharf were built at the point. Although on Angel Island,
this battery was under the operational control of Ft. Alcatraz.

October
1864

A road from the
main garrison of Camp Reynolds to the hospital at Raccoon Cove
(now Ayala Cove) is built.

1864-1869

Without the approval
of the Corps of Engineers, Brevet Major George P. Andrews built
and maintained a five-gun water battery at the head of Camp Reynolds'
wharf. Work was continued on this fortification through at least
1869. Later howitzers were added to the rear of the battery near
the post's flagpole.

6 June 1865

The battery at
Point Blunt was declared unserviceable due to settling of the
parapet. By 1869, three of the guns slid into the bay and the
battery was abandoned. Barracks and officers' quarters come under
the control of Camp Reynolds

April-October
1866

Camp Reynolds
temporarily abandoned.

26 October
1866

Camp Reynolds
designated as the Depot for the receiving and distribution of
recruits.

30 June
1869

Camp Reynolds
becomes the headquarters for 12th Infantry Regiment.

9 May 1885

The Point Knox
Fog Signal Station is authorized.

16 January
1886

The Endicott Board
recommends improvement of harbor defenses at San Francisco in
general and Angel Island specifically.

22 Dec 1888

Permit issued
to US Marine Hospital Service for a National Quarantine Station
in accordance with 25 Stat. 356.

24 April
1889

The Secretary
of War formally releases 10.16 acres of land at Hospital Cove
to the Treasury Department.

4 March
1890

Construction begins
on the Quarantine Station.

28 January
1891

The Quarantine
Station turned over to the US Marine Health Service.

30 August
1893

An additional
12 acres was transferred from the War Department to the Treasury
Department for the Quarantine Station.

19 March
1897

Section I of California
Act of 19 March 1897 cedes tideland adjacent and contiguous to
island to the Federal reservation.

1 April
1898

Construction of
Battery Drew, the first of the Endicott Board fortifications,
begins.

June 1899

Major General
William R. Shafter, commander of the Department of California,
established a Detention Camp at Camp Summer on Quarry Point.

October
1899

Work begins on
Battery Wallace.

27 January
1900

Work begins on
Battery Ledyard.

4 April
1900

In accordance
with War Department General Orders 43, the post is renamed Ft.
McDowell.

1 May 1900

Battery Drew becomes
operational.

16 October
1900

Telephone at telegraph
service installed at Camp Summer Detention Camp.

1 November
1901

Discharge Camp
opens at Camp Summer on Quarry Point.

19 September
1903

The "Depot
of Recruits and Casuals" is moved from the Presidio of San
Francisco to Angel Island.

8 July 1905

The Secretary
of War approves the transfer of ±10 acres to the Department
of Commerce and Labor for Immigration Station.

30 September
1905

The Quartermaster
General of the US Army includes Ft. McDowell in a recommendation
of posts to be abandoned or rebuilt.

October
1908

Immigration Station
completed. However, no funds for operations are available at
the station.

6 April
1909

An additional
4.2 acres is transferred from the War Department to the Department
of Commerce and Labor for the Immigration Station.

4 June 1909

General Recruit
Depot established. The 8th Recruit Company arrives on 6 June
1909. Two additional companies follow later in the summer.

Summer 1909

Construction begins
on a larger permanent garrison at Quarry Point to house the General
Recruit Depot. This area becomes what is known by 1925 as the
East Garrison.

21 January
1910

Immigration Station
officially opened.

24 February
1914

Survey recorded
with the County Recorder of Marin County. Reference Records of
Survey No. 24.

23 October
1914

Permit issued
to Lighthouse Service, Department of Commerce and Labor for light
and fog signals at Points Blunt and Stuart.

Much of the bluff at Quarry Point is leveled
and made a parade ground east of 1,000-man barracks at East Garrison.

23 August
1925

Water condensers
installed at Immigration Station. Barging of water discontinued.

30 November
1925

The first official
use of the terms, "East Garrison" and "West Garrison"
is noted.

1933

Post incinerator
constructed at East Garrison.

1935

The last case
of a quarantine detention occurred when a Japanese family of
three was detained when it was thought they had small-pox.

30 September
1937

The Immigration
and Naturalization Bureau announced that new facilities would
be built in San Francisco.

2 April
1938

Extensive program
of buildings and grounds begins at East Garrison.

1 July 1939

Lighthouse Service
transferred to and later absorbed by US Coast Guard, Department
of the Treasury.

9 July 1940

Contract was let
for new Immigration Station in San Francisco.

4 February
1941

Immigration Station
property returned to the War Department and becomes the Ft. McDowell's
North Garrison.

8 December
1941

Prisoner of War
(POW) Processing Station established at North Garrison. Ft. McDowell
comes under operational control of the San Francisco Port of
Embarkation (SFPE) headquartered at Ft. Mason.

1942

Coast Artillery
returns to Ft. McDowell. The 216th Coast Artillery Regiment places
four 90mm antiaircraft guns on the island. Three are placed at
the three Endicott period fortifications and one is located at
an undisclosed location on the western side of the island.

The status "Overseas
Discharge and Replacement Depot" is officially removed from
Ft. McDowell.

23 February
1943

The first rotation
of soldiers (89 officers and 1,608 enlisted) arrives at Ft. McDowell
from Hawaii.

12 July
1946

Ft. McDowell is
declared surplus by the Army. Quarantine Station and Fog and
Light Stations were continued by the parent agencies under existing
permits and agreements.

20 September
1946

Ft. McDowell is
turned over to the District Engineer.

12 February
1947

All buried remains
still in the post cemetery are removed and re-interred in the
Golden Gate National Cemetery.

10 June
1947

Custody of Ft.
McDowell is transferred to the War Assets Administration (WAA).

11 October
1948

Marin County applies
for the island for historical park development.

26 June
1950

The Secretary
of the Interior reserves Angel Island for disposal to the State
of California or its political subdivision. With the exception
of the 34.13 acres at Hospital Cove under control of the Public
Heath Service and a total of 7.7 acres used by the Coast Guard,
all land is transferred to the Bureau of Land Management. Sometime
during 1950, the Quarantine Station is moved to San Francisco.
In keeping with the original permit, the land is returned to
the Department of the Army (formerly the War Department).

December
1950

Three buildings
are permitted to the Department of the Navy for use as a degaussing
station.

4 May 1951

The State Parks
Commission agrees to purchase the island at the 1947 WAA discounted
price of $194,595 if a local park authority would assume management
and protection under a lease.

26 January
1953

The San Francisco
County Board of Supervisors approved a resolution to place the
island on its park and recreation master plan.

5 February
1954

The Secretary
of the Interior grants a permit to the Department of the Army
to operate an anti-aircraft missile site.

15 April
1954

With the exception
of 36.82 acres at Hospital Cove under control of California State
Park Commission, three light stations under the Coast Guard,
and the small degaussing station at the North Garrison which
is under control of the Navy, the entire island is once again
under Army control.

30 April
1954

The California
Division of Beaches and Parks occupied the Hospital Cove property
under the historical park classification.

24 August
1954

Contracts for
the construction of the Nike-Ajax missile facilities are signed.

26 August
1954

Construction of
the Nike-Ajax facilities began.

1 March
1955

The State of California
receives title to 35 acres at Hospital Cove.

20 April
1955

The Nike-Ajax
missile site is accepted by the Army and dedicated on 9 May 1955.
The site is manned by Battery D, 9th Anti-Aircraft Artillery
Battalion, which became Battery B, 2nd Missile Battalion 51st
Artillery. Officers and men, including 18 dependent families,
are housed in the East Garrison area of the former Ft. McDowell.

10 December
1958

The State of California
receives title to an additional 183.83 acres of land behind Hospital
Cove, including Mount Livermore. This grant is subject only to
existing permits to the Army which continues to operate the IFC
radar from the top of Mount Livermore.

Control of the
remaining 517.24 acres passes to the State of California.

29 July
1963

The State of California
receives title to the remainder of Angel Island, less the Coast
Guard Light Stations at Points Blunt and Stuart.

25 September
1963

Demolition work
on 110 old and dilapidated buildings approved.

27 October
1972

Under the provisions
of Public Law (PL) 92-589 Sections 1 (86 Stat 1299), which established
the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, control of the property
that hosts the active USCG light stations transfers to the National
Park Service.

July 1976

State Legislature
appropriates $250,000 to restore and preserve Immigration Station
Barracks as a state monument.

1977

The National Park
Service granted a Special-Use Permit to the Coast Guard for continued
access, operation, and maintenance rights to the existing navigational
aids as provided in section 3.(g) of P.L. 92-589.

1983

The Immigration
Station is opened as a museum.

2013

The California
Volunteers Living History Association opens the East Garrison
Guardhouse as a military museum focusing on the island's military
history.

Present

Angel Island is
currently owned by the State of California and operated as a
State Park. The two former Coast Guard Stations are currently
owned and managed by the National Park Service

Fort McDowell

by Justin M. Ruhge

History

As presented in an earlier section, Angel
Island was the location of the Civil War Camp Reynolds, later
called the West Garrison, and the three first batteries built
on the island, Points Stuart, Knox and Blunt. After the Civil
War, Camp Reynolds became an infantry camp, serving as a depot
for recruits, and as a staging area for troops serving in campaigns
against the Apache, Sioux, Modoc, and other Native American tribes.
The three batteries were eventually allowed to fall into disuse
and decay.

In 1886, the Endicott Board recommended
arming the inner harbor of the San Francisco Bay with new breech-loading
small caliber cannon and rapid-fire guns. Three installations
were eventually recommended for Angel Island and built by the
Corps of Engineers. These were designated as Batteries Ledyard,
Wallace and Drew. In 1899 the Army built a quarantine station
to serve the troops returning from the Philippines and in 1900
the Army designated the whole island as Fort McDowell.

Endicott Batteries

Under the Defense Appropriation Act of
1898, funding was available for a single 8-inch battery at Angel
Island. Construction began on April 1, 1898 of an emplacement
at a site earlier designated as Mortar Hill for Battery Drew. A great deal of preparatory
work was necessary, involving the building of stables, quarters,
cookhouse, blacksmith shop, and repairs to the Camp Reynolds'
wharf and the road from Camp Reynolds.

Excavation of the emplacement was completed
May 13. Rock was encountered near the front end of the magazine
but it was allowed to form a part of the wall of the magazine.
On May 6, the foundation for the magazine was put in and ten
days later the main concrete work was commenced. The concrete
emplacement was completed by June 20. This battery cost $32,500.
Battery Drew was completed in March 1900 when the guns and carriage
were mounted.

At the same time Battery Drew was begun,
the Army had three platforms for 8-inch converted rifles constructed
at the old Battery Knox location and its' old timber magazine
repaired.

The one and only rapid-fire battery on
Angel Island was approved in December 1899. The plan called for
two 5-inch guns mounted in a battery at Point Knox. The estimated
costs came to $20, 093. It was to occupy the site of the old
Civil War Battery Knox. The recently built platforms for the
three 8-inch converted rifles would be removed and the three
guns on site would be used elsewhere. This emplacement was to
be called Battery Ledyard.

About 450 feet behind the site for Battery
Ledyard was to be the location of a second 8-inch gun battery
named Battery Wallace.
These two batteries were completed in 1901.

By 1915, all of these batteries were dismounted.
There was no need to defend the inner harbor. This was left to
the heavy guns at the Golden Gate.

Mining Casemate

As a part of the back San Francisco Bay
mining program, a casemate similar to the one built at Fort Mason
was constructed on Angel Island at water's edge at the foot of
an area referred to as Mortar Hill. Completed in 1891, it still
stands in pristine condition today. However, as far as can be
determined from the literature, this casemate did not play an
active role in the mining of the back bay harbor.

In 1897, another casemate was constructed
at Quarry Point on Angel Island but it also had little to do
with the mining activities.

Searchlights

In December 1941, elements of the the
216th Coast Artillery Regiment (Anti-Aircraft), a mobilized Minnesota
National Guard unit, was stationed on Angel Island. A 60-inch
portable searchlight was also located on Livermore Peak. Additionally
Seacoast Seachlight No 16 was located at Blunt Point in support
of Anti-Motor Torpedo Boat Battry Blunt.

Fort McDowell

U.S. Army presence on Angel Island increased
significantly in 1899, when Major General William Shafter established
a Detention Camp on the Island to contain troops returning from
the Philippine Insurrection, who were stricken with or had been
exposed to contagious diseases. The 31st Volunteers Infantry
was the first unit to occupy the Camp after an outbreak of smallpox.

The Camp was located at Quarry Point on
the east side of the Island. As early as the 1850s a quarry had
been opened on this site. The stone, which was taken from the
quarry, was "California Sandstone" and was used at
Alcatraz, Fort Point and other defenses around the bay. It was
also used extensively in the building of the pre-1906 Bank of
California in San Francisco.

In 1900, by War Department Orders No.
43, the entire installation was officially named Fort McDowell
in honor of Major General Irwin McDowell, who served in the Mexican-American
War and led troops in the first battle of Bull Run in the Civil
War. The various installations on the Island were referred to
by geographic designations. Camp Reynolds became West Garrison,
the Immigration Station on the Island was North Garrison and
Fort McDowell was called East Garrison. In addition, there was
a ship fumigation station at Ayala Cove or Hospital Cove. Here
there were located some 40 buildings including a hospital, a
400 bed detention barracks, a disinfecting plant, laboratories
and quarters for employees.

The new facilities at Fort McDowell grew
quickly from a quarantine station to a discharge depot and by
1905, some 87,000 men had passed through it enroute back and
forth to the Pacific locations.

In 1910, Fort McDowell was expanded into
a major facility for receiving recruits and processing military
personnel for overseas assignments. Thus, the Discharge Camp
evolved into a Depot of Recruits and Casuals. Recruits were provided
with working knowledge of the customs and regulations of the
Army and of the early phases of drill and then transferred to
their assigned posts.

An extensive building program began at
Quarry Point to provide accommodations for the expanded depot.
The prisoners of the Alcatraz Military Prison supplied much of
the labor. Construction included a huge 600-person barracks,
a mess hall, a hospital, a guardhouse and officer's quarters.
The new construction made Fort McDowell the largest and most
elaborate military induction center in the world.

In 1917, following the U.S. Declaration
of War on Germany, the facilities at Fort McDowell were put to
heavy use and even the Immigration Station (North Garrison) was
pressed into service as a prison for "enemy aliens"
most of them German citizens who had been arrested on board ships
in west coast harbors. These people were transferred to permanent
detention quarters in North Carolina for the duration of the
war.

In 1918, Angel Island was used as a debarkation
and discharge point for troops returning from the war. In 1919,
the establishment was named the Recruit and Replacement Depot.
Its duties were to receive, administer and replace troops enroute
overseas. Through the 1920s and 1930s, the busy Fort McDowell
area inducted, discharged, or handled the transfer of about 40,000
men per year, more than any other American post. The reason for
much of this activity was that from 1900 to 1941, the only U.S.
military bases outside the United States were in the Pacific
and Fort McDowell was the nation's only military overseas processing
station.

Fort McDowell shared in the general upsurge
of military activity from 1938 to 1940 as a result of the European
war. An estimated 22,000 men passed through the station each
year.

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December
7, 1941, and the outbreak of World War II, the Immigration Station
was turned into a prisoner-of-war processing facility. Before
the war was over, hundreds of Japanese, German and Italian prisoners
were temporarily detained here. At the same time Fort McDowell
itself served as a major point of embarkation for troops headed
toward the Pacific war zone. Temporary barracks and other structures
were built, an anti-aircraft artillery and searchlight station
was constructed and manned atop Livermore Peak, and a large new
mess hall and other facilities were constructed in the Immigration
Station Area.

The Army's San Francisco Port of Embarkation
acquired command of the Fort during 1943.

As troops began to return home at the
end of World War II, a 60-foot-high illuminated "Welcome
Home, Well Done" sign was erected on the south-facing slope
of the Island. The rush continued into 1946 and then tapered
off rapidly, so that in July of that year, the Army decided to
close down Fort McDowell and declare the entire Island surplus
property. On August 28, 1946, the flag was lowered for the last
time at Fort McDowell and turned over to the U.S. District Engineer.

Eight years later, the Army returned to
Angel Island, this time to establish a air defense missile site.
Two underground silos housed twelve radar-guided Nike-Ajaz missiles.
These were located on the hillside above Point Blunt. The old
hospital at East Garrison was remodeled and served as the headquarters
and barracks. There were about 100 officers and enlisted men
stationed there. This largest of the Bay Area missile sites continued
until 1962, when the technology became obsolete. Within the year,
the Army decommissioned the base and removed personnel. Today,
this area of the Island is off limits to visitors.

In 2004, the Island is a State Park. The
movement to make the Island into a public park got under way
in 1947 and 1948 after the Federal Government declared it surplus
property. A thorough study of the Island by John A. Hussey of
the National Park Service was completed in 1949. In 1954 a number
of citizens' groups, including the Angel Island Foundation and
the Marin Conservation League, managed to persuade the State
Park Commission to acquire about 37 acres surrounding Ayala Cove.
In 1958 additional acreage was acquired and the mountaintop itself
was rechristened Mount Caroline Livermore, in honor of the dedicated
Marin County conservationist who led the campaign to create Angel
Island State Park. With the departure of the Army air defense
missle site in 1963 the entire Island was turned over to the
State of California for park purposes with the single exception
of the Coast Guard Stations on Point Blunt and Point Stuart,
which continued in active status.

Under the California State Parks the three
Endicott battery emplacements have been preserved and can be
seen on a tour of the Park.

View of Camp Reynolds about
1890. Enlisted mens barracks at left center, with Officers Row
at a further distance. Steeple of Post Chapel can be seen on far
hillside. A number of these buildings are still standing Barracks,
built in 1864, were considered by surgeon, "Well ventilated,
and well warmed by large stoves, but imperfectly lighted. They
are not lathed or plastered nor ceiled, a very great mistake in
this windy climate, and detrimental to the health of the men."
Barracks row is along foreground of picture, officers row parallel
to walk in center; chapel, later schoolhouse, is on hill to right
center. cemetery is in fenced enclosure behind officers' row and
to right of flagpole; in 1879 it contained 32 graves. When 1866
inspection took place, post had three officers, 60 men, and 28
guns. Inspector said he found post in "Remarkably good order.
There was nothing in the management of it to which exception could
be taken."

"The camp is situated
on the western extremity of the island, in a triangular depression
between three hills, which leaves it exposed to the westward
fronting the entrance to the harbor, the 'base being a pretty
sand beach of about 1,000 feet in length," reported Reynolds
surgeon in 1869. The site was 800 by 1,000 feet, with officers'
quarters on one side, enlisted on other. Most construction dated
from 1864. Wooden barracks were designed for 100 men each. There
were six sets of frame officers' quarters, each including two
rooms plus kitchen. (Redrawn from McDowell Report, 1876.)

(1) Battery Call located at
Fort Miley was built for the 5" guns guns removed from Battery
Ledyard, Fort McDowell, during the Japanese scare of 1914-1915.

1940 Program and World War II Temporary:
Anti-Motor Torpedo Boat Battteries

Battery
Name

Number of Guns

Type of Gun

Type of Carriage

Constructed

Completed

Decommisioned

Blunt

4

90mm M1

Fixed M3 and Mobile M1

-

-

-

Knox

2

40mm

Mobile

-

-

-

Cove

2

40mm

Mobile

-

-

-

Prisoner
of War Activities

Prisoners of War
reading the bulletin board at Fort McDowell's Prisoner of War
Processing Station located at the island's North Garrison, formerly
the Immigration Station.

Angel Island
World War II Internment Camp & Prisoner of War Enclosure
(1941-1946)

by Larisa Proulx, National Park Service.

Overview

Prior to the north side of Angel Island
being used as a temporary internment camp and military prisoner
of war enclosure it was an immigration station (1910-1940) which
detained and processed immigrants entering the United States
from over 80 countries. The largest group of immigrants detained
at the Immigration Station were Chinese due to the Chinese Exclusion
Act of 1882. In 1940 the Immigration Station closed due to a
fire in its administration building.

Shortly after, the United States Army
(which was already on the east and west sides of the Island via
Fort McDowell), moved into the then abandoned site and renamed
the area the north garrison of Fort McDowell. A lesser known
event leading up to inception of the camp or enclosure on Angel
Island is that in 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt had requested
the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to prepare, in conjunction
with the army and navy intelligence units, a list of potentially
dangerous persons to be detained in case of national conflict.
This list is known as the Custodial Detention List
and was used to arrest specific people just hours after Pearl
Harbor had been bombed. In the same year that the immigration
station shutdown on Angel Island, the U.S. Nationality Act of
1940 required that resident aliens register annually to keep
the government apprised of any address changes.

When Pearl Harbor was bombed (December
7th, 1941) Fort McDowell became part of the San Francisco Port
of Embarkation, a massive military entity that was charged with
supplying and transporting U.S. troops for overseas duty. That
same day, President Roosevelt signed Presidential Proclamations
No. 2525, No. 2526, and No. 2527 which stated that all Japanese,
German, and Italian natives, citizens, denizens, or subjects
of the hostile nation or government shall be liable to be
apprehended, restrained, secured, and removed as alien enemies.
On the day that the United States entered into World War II (December
8th, 1941) part of the north garrison of Fort McDowell was formally
converted into a temporary internment camp and prisoner of war
enclosure which would be tasked with helping the U.S. government
process, incarcerate, and transfer: (1) Immigrants from Japan,
Germany, and Italy who were arrested by the FBI in the United
States; (2) U.S. citizens with Japanese, German, or Italian heritage
arrested by the FBI in the United States; (3) Japanese, German,
or Italian military captured abroad.

From December 7th, 1941 through the spring
of 1942, the U.S. government would continue to issue orders placing
increased restrictions on individuals with Japanese, German,
or Italian heritage residing within the United States. For example,
in February of 1942, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order
9066 empowering the U.S. Army to designate areas from which any
or all persons may be excluded. Within about three months
after Pearl Harbor had been bombed many immigrants and U.S. citizens
with Japanese, German, or Italian heritage were evacuated
by the U.S. government and put into camps.

Today, Angel Island is part of the California
State Parks System. The site which preserves the former immigration
station (1910-1940), temporary internment camp, and prisoner
of war enclosure (1941-1946) helps to tell the history of confinement
within the United States due to race and nationality. A major
feature of this site is the restored barracks which bear hundreds
of inscriptions left by people once detained and incarcerated
on Angel Island by the U.S. government.

1. Who operated the temporary internment camp and prisoner
of war enclosure on Angel Island?

The camp or enclosure were composed
of Headquarters, Headquarters Detachment, and Military Police
Escort Guard Company (MPEG Co.). The U.S. Army Service Command
Unit (SCU) 1936 processed military prisoners of war, issued orders,
and did the administration work. The 313th MPEG Co. and later
the 439th MPEG Co. escorted military prisoners of war inland,
guarded the compound, and supervised the military prisoners of
war. The Commanding Officer of the camp or enclosure coordinated
and administrated all of these functions. Watchdog agencies like
the Red Cross would visit this facility to ensure that it met
Geneva Conventions Standards.

2. How were people processed at the
camp or enclosure during WWII?

Upon arriving to the camp or enclosure
arrested immigrants or U.S. Citizens would be put through ten
successive stations to be processed. New arrivals were kept segregated
from others until processed. During the process one guard would
escort two people through the various stations until all stations
were completed. In total the process would take about one hour
and eighteen minutes. Through these stations they would be searched
and their personal affects (including money) would be confiscated
for storage. A document called the Basic Personnel Record
would be generated if one did not exist prior to arrival. This
record would account for an internees personal information
and incarceration by the U.S. government. Being processed on
Angel Island included being given an internee serial number (if
one had not yet been assigned), getting finger printed, having
photograph(s) taken, receiving a physical exam, and being assigned
a bed in the camp or prisoner of war barracks. Arrested immigrants
and U.S. citizens held on Angel Island could be questioned on
site, but their formal hearing was conducted at another location.
After being sent to Angel Island, these people would typically
be sent to another internment camp after several days or weeks.

Prisoners of war received at this location
would first have their uniforms deloused and their
blankets and equipment would be disinfected. They would be given
a more thorough medical exam including a blood test and vaccinations.
Serious medical care could be given at the Fort McDowell east
garrison hospital or at the Letterman General Hospital in San
Francisco. Military prisoners of war were usually interrogated
at a different site. Many of the military prisoners of war in
this enclosure were bound for camps located across the United
States and so they werent held on Angel Island for more
than several weeks at a time.

3. Where were the immigrants and U.S.
citizens on Angel Island arrested during WWII?

Many were arrested in California, and
even in San Francisco. However, some were also sent to Angel
Island from Hawaii, Colorado, and Utah. A lesser known history
is the internment of Japanese Hawaiians on the mainland. Those
who were arrested by the FBI in Hawaii and then sent to San Francisco
were established in their field  journalists, clergy of
both Christian and Buddhist denominations, businesspersons, others
who worked at one time or another for the Japanese government
or on behalf of Japanese immigrants. We estimate that about five
hundred and ninety Japanese Hawaiians were sent to Angel Island
after being sent to the mainland.

Immigrants or U.S. citizens arrested
in San Francisco, CA were brought to a detention center set up
by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) on Silver
Avenue. There, they would be interrogated and given an official
hearing. If they were found guilty in the hearing they could
be sent to Sharp Park (Pacifica, CA) where temporary Quonset
huts had also been constructed or go directly to Angel Island.
Some people were transferred from Sharp Park to Angel Island.

4) Where were people transferred to and
from?

We know that people were transferred to
and from the following camps, although more may have also been
utilized:

5. What did the camp and prisoner of
war enclosure consist of and how many people could be held in
it at one time?

Between seven hundred and fifty to
eight hundred people could be held in the camp or enclosure at
a time. The camp or enclosure was composed of four main areas:
(1) the internee or prisoner of war barracks; (2) internee or
prisoner of war mess hall; (3) the internee or prisoner of war
recreation area; (4) U.S. Army enlisted personnel barracks. All
of these buildings were heated with steam heat from the central
heating plant (toward the water), and had electric light. The
internee of prisoner of war barracks, mess hall, and recreation
area were entirely enclosed by woven wire fencing topped with
barbed wire that was eight to ten feet tall in most cases. Several
guard towers were situated around the site and staffed with armed
guards. The north garrison dock was also guarded.

Internee or Prisoner of War Barracks:
The main building of this site was the internee or prisoner of
war barracks. The lower floor of this building consisted of one
large and one small dormitory which had sleeping facilities for
three hundred and twelve people. Three small rooms on the first
floor were used as an office, supply room, and cell for unruly
prisoners. The second floor had a large and small dormitory
which provided sleeping quarters for four hundred and eighteen
people. Several rooms on this floor were reserved for military
prisoner of war officers, the surgeons office, and the
infirmary. The large dormitory was partitioned to separate people
when necessary. There were two separate latrines in the rear
of the barracks. One latrine contained thirteen toilets and ten
washstands and the other contained eleven toilets and seven washstands.

Internee or Prisoner of War Mess Hall:
This mess hall provided room for two hundred people to eat at
one time. Today, this building still houses kitchen equipment
used by the U.S. Army. The entrance to the mess hall which faces
the internee or prisoner of war barracks used to have a wooden
pathway with sinks for rinsing mess trays.

Internee or Prisoner of War Recreation
Area: Behind the internee or prisoner of war barracks was a recreation
area. People held in the camp or enclosure were restricted from
other parts of the Island, and would be brought out to this area
for exercise.

U.S. Army Enlisted Personnel Barracks:
The former immigration station hospital (downhill from the internee
or prisoner of war barracks) were barracks for U.S. Army enlisted
personnel.

Typically military that worked at the
camp or enclosure used this building as their housing if they
werent high ranking.

6. How many people were held in the
camp or prisoner of war enclosure from 1941-1946?

This is unknown at this time. We estimate
that well over two thousand people were held in the camp or enclosure
between those years.

7. What battles were the military
prisoners of war on Angel Island in?

We know that some of the military prisoners
of war were captured in the battle at Iwo Jima, Okinawa, Midway,
and even Pearl Harbor. Kazuo Sakamaki, a member of the Japanese
military captured at Pearl Harbor, was eventually sent to Angel
Island.

9. Where there Italian Service Units
on Angel Island?

Yes. After Italy surrendered to the
allies in 1943, there were Italian Service Units on Angel Island.
They did a lot of the grounds keeping and gardening work at Fort
McDowell. They were not under constant confinement like other
military prisoners of war and were allowed to go into North Beach
in San Francisco for dances and parties. They were also allowed
to have visitors on Angel Island.

9. What was a typical day like in
the enclosure for military prisoners of war?

5:30 AM  Lights on

6:30 AM  Breakfast

7:00 AM  All prisoners except
those that are sick or on a detail must be out of the barracks
so that it can be inspected.

8:30 AM  The sergeant of the guard
will notify the dispensary about how many prisoners cannot leave
their bunks due to illness.

9:00 AM  Recreation

11:00 AM  Recall

11:50 AM  Check prisoners

12:00 PM  Lunch

1:30 PM  Recreation 3:00 PM 
Recall

3:30 PM  Bathing, shaving, washing
of clothes when ordered.

5:00 PM  Dinner

8:15 PM  Retire

8:30 PM  Lights out

10. What kind of food was given to
military prisoners of war in the enclosure?

Most meals were a mixture of different
foods. Military prisoners of war received more ethnic foods in
addition to American foods. Below is an example of
what was served to a Japanese military prisoner of war:

The U.S. Army noted that prisoners
were allowed as much soy sauce as they wanted.

11. Is there writing from people held
in the barracks during World War II?

Yes, the last layer of paint on the
walls has writing in pencil, pen, chalk, or soap in addition
to writing that is carved or scratched through the last layer
or paint. Much of the writing is in Kanji (Japanese) or German.
Writing from people held in the barracks when it was an immigration
station is underneath several layers of paint.

12. How can I locate records on someone
that was held on Angel during World War II?

Many of the records for arrested immigrants
and U.S. citizens sent to Angel Island during WWII are now physically
held at the National Archives & Records Administration in
College Park, Maryland. You can inquire about their holdings
through their official website (http://www.archives.gov/dc-metro/college-park/researcher-info.html).

Many of the records on military prisoners
of war held on Angel Island during WWII were repatriated with
those people at the end of the war. To inquire about copies of
those records, you should contact the following archives directly
(please note that they are in Japan, Germany, and Italy):

The personnel records of World War
II German prisoners of war in the United States were returned
to Germany. For access to these records, please write to the
Deutsche Dienstelle (WASt), Postfach 51 06 57, D-13400 Berlin,
Germany. The web site is http://dd-
wast.javabase.de/.

Personnel records of Italian prisoners
of war have been returned to Italy. For further information please
write the Ministero della Difesa-Esercito, Direzione Generale
dei Servize di Commissariato e Amministrativi, Via XX Settembre
No. 11, Rome, Italy. The web site is http://www.difesa.it/Pagine/default.aspx.

Prisoner of war personnel files for former
Japanese prisoners of war were returned to Japan after World
War II. For further information we suggest that you contact the
Military History Department, National Institute for Defense Studies,
2-2-1 Nakameguro, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153- 8648, Japan. The web
site is http://www.nids.go.jp/english/index.html.

Ulrich, S. (2004). The Anguish of Surrender:
Japanese POWs of World War II. Washington: University of
Washington Press.

About the Author

Larisa Proulx is a US National Park Service
Archives Technician at the Tule Lake Unit World War WII Valor
in the Pacific National Monument. In her former position as an
Interpretive Specialist for California State Parks, she conducted
historic research at various National Archives & Records
Administration locations and launched an oral history program
focused on Angel Islands World War II confinement history.
Larisa graduated from Clark University (Worcester, MA) with a
Masters Degree of Public

San Francisco
Defense Area Site SF-91

by Daniel Sebby, Military Historian, California
Military Department

This site was opened in 1955. The Intergrated
Fire Control (IFC)(SF-91C) area was located at the top of Mount
Livermore, the highest point on the island. California State
Parks has partially cleared off the tip of the mountain &
re-contoured IFC area leaving only the pads for the MTR (Missile
Tracking Radar) & acquisition radar, although its easy
enough to discern the former location of the TTR (Target Tracking
Radar).

The administration area (SF-91A) was located
at East Garrison which was opened circa 1910 The Fort was pretty
much abandoned when the Nike people moved in. The base hospital
became battery HQ. The men moved into the abandoned officers
homes. This site was closed in 1961. It was a Regular Army site
manned originally by Battery D of the 9th Anti Aircraft Artillery
Missile Battalion which was reorganized under the Combat Arms
Regimental System to become Battery D, 2nd Missile Battalion,
51st Artillery Regiment. This site was only armed with the
Nike-Ajax guided missile system.

The Launcher Area (SF-91L) consisted of
3 magazines (1B2C) with 12 launchers. The assembly building &
fueling area are further down the slope,near the Coast Guard
station & a pier which the Army probably used for personnel
& equipment transfer.

With the exception of SF-88 at Fort Barry
in the Marin Headlands, SF-91 is probably one of the best-preserved
Nike sites in the San Francisco Defense Area.

Intergrated Fire
Control area (SF-91C) on top of Mount Ida (later renamed Mount
Livermore)

San Francisco
Defense Area Site SF-91

by Sacramento District US Army Corps of
Engineers

San Francisco Defense Area Nike Battery
91 is located 7 miles north of San Francisco, California on Angel
Island in San Francisco Bay. The total acreage of 595.50 acres
for the site was acquired by direct transfer from the Department
of the Interior (DOI) by letter of permit dated February 5, 1954.

The property was used as a Nike missile
defense site for the identification and tracking of incoming
targets and directing Nike missiles in flight. The site consisted
of a Launcher Area and IFC Area. No Facility Area was constructed.

On October 9, 1960, the 595.50 acres transferred
by use permit was relinquished back to DOI. The property was
retransferred on March 11, 1963. The area is now used for recreational
purposes as Angel Island State Park.

Nike-Ajax missiles
in the launch position on Angel Island (SF-91L)

The Western Electric SAM-A-7/M1/MIM-3
Nike Ajax

The Nike Ajax was the world's first
operational surface-to-air guided missile system. Its origins
lay in the immediate post-war time, when the U.S. Army realized
that guided missiles were the only way to provide air-defense
against future fast high-flying bombers. Western Electric became
the prime contractor for the XSAM-G-7 Nike missile system
and Douglas as the primary subcontractor was responsible for the
missile airframe.

The first unguided Nike missiles
were fired in 1946, but problems with the original multi-rocket
booster (eight solid-fuel rockets wrapped around the missile tail)
soon led to delays in the program. In 1948, it was decided to
replace this booster pack with a single rocket booster, attached
to the back of the missile. The main propulsion of the missile
was a Bell liquid-fueled rocket motor, and the flight path was
controlled by the four small fins around the nose. In November
1951, the first successful interception of a QB-17 target drone
succeeded. The first production Nike (which had been redesignated
SAM-A-7 in 1951) flew in 1952, and the first operational Nike
site was activated in 1954. By this time, the missile had been
designated by the Army as Guided Missile, Anti-Aircraft M1. The
name had changed to Nike I, to distinguish it from the
Nike-B (later MIM-14 Nike Hercules) and Nike II
(later LIM-49 Nike Zeus). On 15 November 1956, the name was finally
changed to Nike Ajax.

The Nike Ajax missile used a command
guidance system. An acquisition radar called LOPAR (Low-Power
Acquisition Radar) picked up potential targets at long range,
and the information on hostile targets was then transferred to
the Target Tracking Radar (TTR). An adjacent Missile Tracking
Radar (MTR) tracked the flight path of the Nike Ajax missile.
Using tracking data of the TTR and MTR, a computer calculated
the interception trajectory, and sent appropriate course correction
commands to the missile. The three high-explosive fragmentation
warheads of the missile (in nose, center, and aft section) were
detonated by ground command, when the paths of target and missile
met.

One of the major disadvantages of the Nike
Ajax system was that the guidance system could handle only
one target at a time. Additionally, there was originally no data
link between different Nike Ajax sites, which could lead
to several sites engaging the same target. The latter problem
was eventually solved by the introduction of the Martin AN/FSG-1
Missile Master command-and-control system, with automatic
data communication and processing. Other problematic features
of the Nike Ajax system were the liquid-fuel rocket motor
with its highly toxic propellants, and the large size of a complete
site with all components, which made Nike Ajax to all intents
and purposes a fixed-site air defense system.

By 1958, nearly 200 Nike Ajax sites
had been activated in the United States. However, the far more
advanced MIM-14 Nike Hercules soon replaced the Nike Ajax,
and by late 1963, the last Nike Ajax on U.S. soil had been
retired. In 1963, the Nike Ajax had received the new designation
MIM-3A. Despite the use of an MIM (Mobile Intercept Missile) designator,
the mobility of the Nike Ajax system was more theoretical
than actually feasible in a combat situation.

The MIM-3A continued to serve with U.S.
overseas and friendly forces for many more years. In total, more
than 16,000 missiles were built.